The Warp
by Meagan Snow
Summary: Marco encounters an ordinary girl on the way to Cassie's from school. But an ordinary girl? Girls in 1998 don't hold iPhones and ask about Wi-Fi hotspots. This girl has been transported to the year of her birth for a reason. But what reason? OCxMarco
1. Chapter 1

**Thanks Iris129 for requesting this :) Sorry this is uber short, but I kind of hurried it...**

The Warp

Marco

My name is Marco. Just Marco. You know the drill: secrets, Yeerks, can't tell you anything or we all die, fighting, blue cube, Elfangor, morphing power, the Animorphs. Really happy story, huh?

Anyway, I was coming home from school when I saw her, Just a girl, cute, I guess, with dark red hair, large, square glasses, and brilliant green eyes. Just a regular girl. But she was holding- and not looking too happy with- something that might have been a cellular phone except smaller, thinner, all screen with a single round button at the bottom. I heard her mutter, "What do you have to do to get any reception here?"

She noticed me and walked over. "Hey" she said. "Do you by any chance know where the nearest hotspot is?"

I stared blankly and said something intelligible like "what?"

She sighed. "You know. Hotspot. Wi-fi. Wireless Internet?" she said, looking at me like at some sort of idiot. What on Earth was she TALKING about?

"I have no idea. But your, uh, thing is cool." Now, it was her turn to look confused.

"My iPhone? It's not cool, it's old. Like, from '06." '06? 1906, or… 2006? something was wrong. Seriously wrong.

"What year is it?" I asked her quickly. She looked me like I was insane, again.

"2012," she replied, then added, "duh." I shook my head, and saw skepticism on her face, followed by a wave of realization.  
>"Oh, my God" she whispered. "What year is it?"<p>

"1998."

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	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: (A little longer. I promise 3 will be okay-length)**

The Warp

Marco

"1998."

She stared for a minute.

"Okay, I'm dreaming, aren't I?" She asked once she recovered her wits. "Having a really, really messed-up dream. That or you're playing a trick on me. Do I know you?"

I shook my head. "No, but my name is Marco."

"Lex." she replied. "Are you _sure_ this isn't just some bizarre dream?"

"Pretty sure. Do you think you could dream up something like me?"

"No more pizza before bed for me" she cut back.

"Whatever. Can I use your phone?" I asked. I was going to call Jake and tell him what happened.

"Nope, no service" she replied with a shrug.

"Okay, I know someone who may have an idea of what's happened, but you'll have to come with me."  
>I saw her look me up and down, as if to see if I was trouble or not. She was taller than me- most people are- but she didn't look especially strong. Finally, she nodded.<br>"It's not like I have anywhere to go anyway or anything to do before I wake up. Might as well."  
>"Come on, then." We'd go to see Jake, and he'd decide what to do then. It took us maybe fifteen minutes to get there. I walked onto his front porch while Lex stayed behind. Jake's brother, Tom, opened the door. Tom is a Controller.<p>

"Hey, Tom" I said. "Is Jake home?"

"Hey, shrimp. He's at Rachel's"  
>"Okay, then, see ya!" I said, walking away. It was always creepy talking to Tom, because he looked and sounded and acted just like Tom, but inside his head there was really a Yeerk slug controlling him.<p>

"Okay, we're going somewhere else." she shrugged again.. As we got to Rachel's house, we caught them heading out the door.  
>"Hey! Jake! Rachel!" I called.<br>"Hey, what's up?" Jake asked, turning. Then, his eyes slid to Lex. "And who's she?"  
>"She is going to smack you if you keep calling her 'she'." Lex said.<p>

"Jake, this is Lex… my girlfriend." This earned me a smack anyway. "What was that for?"

Both ignored me and got to the point.  
>"I'm Lex… not anybody's girlfriend."<p>

"I'm Jake, and this is Rachel."  
>"Hey"<p>

"So what's up? Must be something big to get Marco that excited."

She shook her head, her hair rippling down her back. "This is going to sound crazy. I'm not a lunatic, I promise."

"Look, Lex, right?" Jake asked. "'Crazy' no longer bothers me. Neither do 'Impossible' or 99 percent of things that would make other people run for Mommy."

Rachel nodded. "Us? We're probably going to be mildly surprised by your story. No matter how weird it is."

"Let's talk about this at Cassie's" I suggested. Nobody objected, so we went.

**Review? I've got Oreos ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yay, I finally have ideas for this fic! Thanks for everyone and anyone who commented.**

**I would also like to offer a special thanks to iris129. She's helped me come up with an idea for this and other fics, and has been the best reader/reviewer anyone could ask for. This chapter is for you, iris!**

The Warp

Lex

I shrugged and followed them. Apparently they couldn't answer me without getting their whole clique together. Who did they think they were, the Ghostbusters?

I followed them to this Cassie's, who turned out to be this short African-American girl, and gathered in her barn. A barn! For a second, I wondered whether I had traveled to 1998 or 1928. What's more, the barn was some sort of zoo, or vet's office, or something. Vet's office, I decided. As soon as they had all assembled, the boy who called himself Jake told me to sit down- on a bale of hay, of all things!- and to tell them my story. I was reminded of my first impression.

"Who do you think you are, the Ghostbusters?"

"More like the X-Men" Marco replied, but was silenced by a Look from Jake.

"Right. Well, I was catching a Greyhound to- you have Greyhounds now?"

"Yeah" Jake replied. He seemed to be the leader of their little group, and I found myself liking him less and less as I warmed up to the others.

"Well, I was going to a meeting of the Sharing, because I was about to be promoted to a full member. Then, suddenly, there was this creepy laughter from nowhere and everywhere at once, and I was on the sidewalk in front of the school."

I saw a flash of recognition in the others' eyes at the mention of the Sharing, and a look of shock at the mention of the laughter. They shot each other looks that they probably thought I wouldn't notice. Ignoring them, I joked: "What's even worse, it's summer vacation where I come from!"

"March here." Jake replied, with the hint of a smile. I almost asked them about the Sharing, what they knew about it, when it hit me. March 1998. Oh, God.

"March what?" I asked, a note of panic now in my voice.

"14th. Why?" Jake asked, all smile gone from his face, picking up on my tone. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

"Oh, God. It's next week. NEXT WEEK! Oh, God. Oh, God. Tell me we're not in California. Please!" I begged.

"Well, I could. But I won't. We're in Santa Barbara." Marco joked.

"Not the time, not the place, Marco" Rachel muttered.

"Lex. You're from the future, right?" Jake asked, placing a calming hand on my shoulder as I fought the panic rising up in my chest. I answered with a shaky nod. I don't know why I was so freaked out right then. I can usually be called pretty levelheaded. But I was in the past. A week before the Day.

"So what happens next week?"

"We all die." I whispered.

**I have more oreo cookies for potential reviewers- so even if you hate it, don't worry about hurting my feelings. Just, be as harsh as you like, or as nice as you like, and just review, guys :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey! Sorry this is so late. **

**I'd like to give a big thanks to all my great reviewers.**

**And a special shout-out to Stormgirl415, my new beta! Love you, Stormy!**

The Warp

Jake

I watched the girl, whom Marco had called Lex, sit there as she freaked out about next week. I placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. Then, it hit me.

"Wait a second. Lex. Didn't you say you were from the future?"

She answered me with an uncertain nod.

"What happens next week?" I almost dreaded the answer. Lex _had_ seemed pretty happy-go-lucky until now.

"We all die" she whispered.

There was a moment of silence from all of us- not even Marco had anything to say. I shook my head to clear it. There had to be another explanation for this. Yeerks, maybe. Most likely.

"Lex, we need to get more details than just dying. What happens?"  
>She seemed to have calmed down and stood up. "There's this explosion that nobody had yet explained. All of California was reduced to rubble, but, oddly enough, nothing but California. That was actually how my parents met. She was a refugee and he was a search and rescue volunteer. And Santa Barbara was the epicenter. No survivors."<p>

Definitely the Yeerks then.

What could they be doing? Some experiment gone wrong? Maybe a weapons testing? Marco seemed to have the same idea.  
>"So the Yeerks made some weird space laser thing? Or did they drop a controlled bomb on us?"<p>

"Yeesh, Marco" Rachel interrupted. "Thanks for being cheerful."  
>"What? We get blown up by a space laser in a week, and I can't think out loud?"<p>

"If we wanted to hear your thoughts, we'd give you a half-penny."

"Like you have any left over from all the shopping you do."

I knew they were just blowing off steam and would have let them argue for a while had not Lex interrupted.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Start from the beginning. Space lasers? Yeerks? Bombs? And you guys are arguing about _shopping_?"

I guessed she deserved an explanation. And yet, something she'd said was nagging at the back of my mind. She'd said she was about to be promoted to a full member of the Sharing. Did that mean she was a Yeerk, or wasn't?

"Okay, I guess we should tell her." I announced. I got an immediate affirmative from Cassie and Rachel, and even Marco gave a grudging nod.

I decided to do the honors.  
>"What do you know about the Yeerks, Lex?" I asked her.<p>

I was answered with a shrug. "Not really anything. It's the nickname that we starting members gave to the full members of the Sharing. I have no idea where it came from, though."

I exchanged a look with Marco. If they already knew that much, maybe there was hope. Even if we wouldn't be able to stop the explosion, there was hope.

"Okay, you got sort of close. The thing is, aliens exist, Lex."

"What, like from _Dr. Who_?"

"Sort of" Marco said. "But… you know. Real-looking and stuff. Where you can't see the wires."

"Jeez, you guys. I have an old 2010 episode downloaded on my phone. I'll show you later. It's gotten _tons_ better than… what Doctor are you guys on? Seven?"

"I don't know. I stopped watching it when it started reminding me too much of my life."

"Right." I said. I used to me a _Doctor_ fan too, but I didn't think this was the best time to bring it up. "Look, Lex, Marco, let's focus, all right?"

"Sorry" Lex said. "But aliens, Jake? What, like Daleks and Time Lords?"  
>"Yes and no. You see, the Yeerks are aliens. Alien parasites. They're like slugs that squirm their way through your ear and take control of your brain."<p>

"Like those… things from _The Ark in Space._" Lex pointed out.  
>"Can we stop with the <em>Dr. Who<em> references!" Rachel exploded. I know for a fact that she was just annoyed because she hadn't liked the show herself.

"She's right. Let's be serious here. It's Cassie, right?" Lex asked.  
>"No, I'm Rachel. She's Cassie."<p>

"Sorry."

"It's fine."

"Anyway," I continued. "There's these other aliens, called Andalites. And one of their Princes, or leaders, landed his ship near us, dying. As a last wish, he gave us the Andalite power to morph any animal we touch. And we, the Animorphs, are the last and only resistance against the Yeerks."

"Wait a second." Lex said. "Parasitic slugs? Okay. Parasitic alien slugs? Still cool. But parasitic alien slugs that want to take over the world and the only thing stopping them is four teens? I want in."

"Really?" I asked. "Are you serious, or is that just an action-reaction thing? Because this is absolutely serious."

"And so am I. Actual aliens? A small group resisting said aliens? I want some of that."

"Look, Lex…" I began. I wasn't sure if I wanted another David situation. Plus, she didn't seem to be taking it all that seriously. "You'll have to promise to follow our rules. And…" Oh, God, I hated saying this. "…My leadership."

"Deal." She said.

"Oh. And one more thing." I added. "No more of the Sharing."

"And why is that?"  
>"Because the Sharing is a front organization for the Yeerks. Join the Sharing, you get infested. My… my brother is a member."<p>

"Look, I'm sorry." She said. " 'Course I'll stay away, knowing what I do now."

"Good." I said. "Because before you join, there's someone I want you to meet."

**Did'ja like it? I hope it wasn't too short. It was longer than the others, I think.**

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	5. Chapter 5

**Hey people!**

**I'm so, so, sorry it's been so long. But I'll try to get this up and running now. **

**Sorry especially to Stormy, my beta. I feel like such a horrible person. Also to iris129, my former loyal reader from back when this worked. I hope you'll continue reading this. **

**I'm back now, and doing my best to keep going. Sorry if this is short, or sucks. I still have to remember some things about Animorphs. **

**With that said and done, let's go!**

Marco

"...There's someone I'd like you to meet."

I knew what was about to happen. Either Lex would see this and lose it (well, I assumed she'd freak either way) or she'd have the stuff to join us. I found myself subconsciously hoping she'd stay.

"Two someones, actually." Jake continued. "The first one you'll meet is Tobias." Tobias ruffled his feathers importantly.

"This" Jake gestured to the hawk "is Tobias. He's..." I saw how t pained him to say this "...a living warning to us. If you stay in morph for two hours, you stay for good. Tobias is now a red-tailed hawk. "

Lex nodded seriously, weighing the consequences. She looked a bit shocked, but soon regained her happy-go-lucky attitude. I could tell she was still a bit shaken- as much as she covered it up.

Given the circumstances, she had every right to freak out at the moment.

"...And the second?" she asked, looking up.

Uh-oh. This was the real test. If she could stomach this, she was in.

But then again, she was a Doctor fan. Maybe she wouldn't run from the room screaming.

I again found myself nervous and hopeful.

/Get a grip, Marco/ I told myself. /If she's not good enough, she's out. Plain and simple... Right?/

My thoughts were interrupted by Jake's voice.

"Ax!" he called.

I saw Lex furrow her brow. I could practically see her wonder what a person called 'axe' could be like.

As Ax, in his Andalite form, stepped out from behind some cages, I saw Lex give out a scream muffled by the hands she clasped over her mouth.

When the initial shock was over, she stepped forward carefully, looking at Ax in interest.

"What- what is that?"

[I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, brother of Elfangor-Shirinial-Shamtul,

Prince and honorary War-Prince of the Andalite race.]

Lex stared for a bit. "You just.. Talked. In my head. "

Jake nodded. "We call it thoughtspeak."

Lex nodded for a second, staring into space.

"All right, I'm in for sure now"

I could almost see Jake facepalm.

**Sorry this is über short. I had little time. **

**Please tell me what you think. I really appreciate it**

**AndI can never say sorry enough for what I did. Pleaseforgive me :)**

**And of course the usual: I have gummy worms and Oreos!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Alrighty, it's updating time!**

**Sorry I time-skipped like this but I'd written this epic (for me) chapter and wanted to see if you peeps liked it :)**

**And I'm doing a little different story format right now, because I thought it would fit this better. **

**Well that's me shutting up now and letting you read!**

**(And thanks to anyone who reviewed! You know who you are!**

"_10:00 PM, March 20, 1998_

_To whoever finds this:_

_It's been almost a week since the day I came. Six days. _

_That day seems eons away, in another lifetime. _

_We're done. It's time. We're going in. _

_I say "we." "We" means the Animorphs. Because once I'm in, I'm in. _

_I don't stop to consider it. We are a team. The last team. The only team. _

_It seems I'm being melodramatic, I bet. Most likely, everyone's thinking 'same old Lex, can't take anything seriously. Even her death'_

_Yeah? Well maybe I've changed. Maybe, if tomorrow is the day I die, I don't have to pretend anymore. Pretend everything is all right, because I'm Lex and I'm cool like that. _

_Maybe I can drop the 'que sera, sera' attitude I impose onto myself. _

_Because inside, I still feel like Alexelei, the lost little girl who misses her home. Her parents. Her friends. All she wants is to curl up in a corner and cry. _

_But I don't. I don't because I got myself into this and I'm getting myself out. _

_Because if I have to die, I'll do it saving other people. _

_Because if I hide away today, so many innocent people will die._

_Because I'm Lex, the Animorph, the fighter, the hero. _

_And you know what? I've stopped caring that people peg me as a total clown with no depth to her decisions. Her emotions. _

_Because if it wasn't for me, they'd be dead. _

_Or worse. _

_So if I die today, I want whoever finds this diary to know I died defending the Earth. _

_And that I would do it again. _

_Alexelei Sander"_

Lex snapped her notebook closed, a determined expression on her face.

It was time to go. She had to meet up with the others near the WRC, what she liked to call Cassie's barn.

Hiding out in the public library wasn't going to solve anything.

She hid the notebook in the hiding spot she had scoped out the very first day: in a niche in the wall behind the fiction section.

Taking off her top clothes and glasses, she stuffed them in that same hiding spot. Who cares she's breaking the dress code, she reasoned.

What she was about to do was much worse.

She scanned the list in her mind and chose her favorite. The owl.

Focusing her mind on the DNA inside her, she slowly began to transform. First came the feathers. Thousands of little wisps seemed to come to life atop her skin, while at the same time se was shrinking, shrinking, to under a foot's height.

Her eyes seemed to change the least- they remained their shade of shocking green, only changing in shape to math the owl's.

She felt a sharp ZAP as the morph finalized and the instincts came into action.

Ooh. A mouse. The library has mice.

Being in this morph always seemed to make Lex very distractable. It was just hard for her to handle the sensual input coming from her eyes, her ears, the sense of touch on her feathers, that sixth sense that allowed her to feel animals in the dark.

She took wing and flew out the open window, allowing the owl to take over. Gladly.

As she touched down near the others, she saw they all looked grim. Even Marco.

Normally, she would have been inclined to lighten the situation with a joke. Normally.

As she finished demorphing, she heard Jake's voice.

"Everyone ready?"

Only grim nods all around.

"Okay then, you know the plan. We go in there, and try to dismantle the demorphing ray before it has a chance to explode.

We will not make noise, draw attention to ourselves, or in any way alert the Yeerks of our existence.

Our best scenario is they won't notice we've cut the main power supply to the machine until later."

[If it is powered by an external power source.] Ax added. [Otherwise one of us will have to program in the virus.]

Ax had taught the Animorphs the kill code for most Yeerk technology. It would disable the primary functions of most machineries, if they were of Yeerk origin. Keyword being most.

"We all know it, right?"

Nods all around. More or less.

"... That'll have to do. Rachel?"

With only a ghost of her usual bravado, Rachel managed a small smile. "Let's do this."

Since putting this off wouldn't do anyone any favors, without another word they morphed into owls and flew off.

It was a short flight. A blissful flight for Lex, because she could bury herself in the owl's consciousness. But so cruelly short.

As they alighted on the roof of the complex, Jake indicated a hiding spot where they could remorph. Battle morphs. Just in case.

[Go ahead, Ax] Jake indicated. [We'll wait here.]

If only it had worked out that simply

Lex felt the serene calm of the black panther wash over her. She was queen of the night. Nobody messed with her.

The panther inside her purred at that thought. Nobody. Not even the large Siberian tiger next to her.

Half an hour later, Ax appeared back on the roof.

[The code shall not work, Prince Jake. It is written in some primitive and pointless human language that will take me at least ten hours and twenty-six minutes to crack.]

[We don't have that long!] the tiger-boy growled.

[Plan B?] pseudo-cheerfully suggested the grizzly to his left.

[Plan B. We go in and wreck it.]

[Actually, my Prince, that will likely cause an explosion that will kill us all.]

[We'll take the risk] a new voice said. The Animorphs tried to figure out whose voice it was. It was Lex, thought-speaking for the first time that night.

[We have to.]

Everyone realized she was right. As much as they didn't want to.

[On three. One-]

[THREE!] Rachel shouted, barging forward. Everyone followed her, storming into a large room, empty except for an empty door frame leading to a tiny room lined with equipment and monitors

[A prototypical Yeerk teleport.] Ax explained. [There is only one right now, as far as I can tell. Anyone who would enter the DNA stream right now-]

[We get it] Marco answered. [Never comes out. Trapped in Z-Space.]

Up until that moment it had been quiet. Too quiet.

Suddenly, hidden doors slid open in all the walls, revealing a battalion of Hork-Bajir armed in Dracon beams.

[Hork-Bajir] Jake explained for Lex's benefit. [The Visser's foot-soldiers.]

She didn't reply, but wouldn't attack either. She only defended herself and her friends from oncoming Hork-Bajir.

Looking around, she saw the situation was truly grim. They were outnumbered fifty to one. Attacking wouldn't do them any good.

She looked over at the computers.

Could she?

Yes. Definitely.

/Would/ she?

That was harder to answer.

Yes. She would.

She slid out of the battle scene, unnoticed, and demorphed halfway.

Fingers. Yes! Fingers!

She still looked like a bizarre mix of wild cat and freaked out teen but that didn't matter anymore.

She sat down to the keyboard and started typing.

Luckily, it was an old style keyboard adapted for humans.

And by some incredible stroke of luck, it was based on English.

She didn't recognize the language but her reasoning was simple. Most human programming languages come from one root, more or less. So some basic commands would be the same.

Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she typed in the commands that would likely mean her death.

God, she didn't want to die!

Why?

She felt like curling up in a ball and sobbing as she typed up the final line of code.

{Command: variable(AlexeleiSander)&action(beginteleport)}

She couldn't make herself press the 'Enter' key as hot years streamed down her face.

ѦѦѦ

[Marco!] Marco suddenly heard Jake's voice inside his head. [Where's Lex!]

He looked around, ignoring the battle scene around him.

After a while, he noticed what could have been a large mutant cat at one of the computers through the open door.

[Lex!] he cried, lunging toward her.

He noticed something over her shoulder.

He could understand some of what she had entered into the computer.

[No! Lex! You can't!] he screamed. [You'll kill yourself!]

She never looked around. Just pressed that one final key. Enter.

For a while, time seemed to stop. Lex turned around to face him, somehow now fully human.

Suddenly, she stood up and turned around, looking him straight in the eyes. There was no sign on her face of the torn girl she was just a few seconds ago and she seemed to glow with an internal calm.

"I have to, Marco. Don't worry. I'll never forget you."

Then, she just... dissolved into mist.

And she was gone.

Just like that.

** What did you think? Like it? Hate it? Are surprised or miffed by this turn of events?**

**Or maybe my foreshadowing had been too obvious?**

**Let me know!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi everyone!  
>This is part 1 of my mass update :)<br>On that note, I'd like to tell you all thanks for bearing with me, my clffhangers, my lack of updating, and my time skips. If you've stuck with me from the very beginning, I thank you. From the bottom of my heart.  
>If you've been with me from the beginning on this story, drop me a review. I'll think of a way to thank you.<strong>

**But for now, here comes the chapter :)**

Lex opened her eyes.

Was this what death was like? If it was, she didn't feel especially... Dead.

She seemed to be floating in noplace and everywhere at once.

"Hello?" She called aloud, not expecting an answer.

All the bigger was her surprise when she got an answer.

"Hello, Alexelei" she heard a voice, and she somehow knew it was coming from the... Thing next to her

"Where am I? Who- What are you?"

In response, the thing simply laughed. "Who am I? That's a simple thing to answer. I am an Ellimist. Now the question is, what are you?"

"Wh-what's that mean!" She shouted, looking at her hands. They still looked human, though it was like they were made of mist.

"You, Alexelei, should be dead."

"So... I'm not?"

"Technically, yes, you did die in that particular timeline. But now you're in my dimension."

"What?"

"I've made you like me, for the time being. But your mortal body will disintegrate if exposed to the temporal radiation long-term. So I would make a proposition to you."

"...It's not like a dead man has many options. "

"Allow me to tell you your story. Your parents met as the result of a national disaster fourteen years ago- or should I say, in a week or so.

You live a pretty normal human life for fourteen years.

Then suddenly, boom, you're back in '98. I bet you're wondering why.

I brought you back because you alone could save the world. Of course, in doing this, you would be preventing your own birth, but that's a minor detail."

"...! MINOR?!" Lex was at a loss for words.

"Minor, because you would die preventing it anyway. There'd be no paradox because I'd secure the whole thing in a time bubble."

"A what." Lex asked flatly.

"...Never mind." The Ellimist was obviously growing a bit annoyed with her. "God knows, not being supposed to interfere, securing a permit for that was nightmarish enough.

So here's my deal. The one place I can interfere is the cyber world."

Lex looked up, a note of interest in her eye. If that conversation was going the way she thought it was going...

"Are you proposing...?"

"Exactly. I'll release you into the Internet and you can continue to fight Yeerks from there. Or you could die."

"Are you kidding! Definitely!"

Lex would have collapsed in relief if she had a material body to collapse.

"Under one condition. You can't contact the Animorphs again. Not now, not ever.

At least... not directly."

Before Lex could give these words any thought, something seemed to shift in her vision and she realized she was floating in a blank, blue space. The only thing there was a single word above her head in light blue.

{Program:}

"Pascal" she whispered, looking around.

Sure enough, she had some sort of a digital backpack labeled {Toolbox} on her back. When she pulled it off, she realized it contained a keyboard, a map, and a thick folder labeled "files."

"Oh, yes" she murmured. The lack of a mouse would be a hindrance, but she could manage without.

{Alt+Enter} she minimized it

The blue screen seemed to shift to reveal a white background, while shrinking to the size of a an A4 paper (or similar). Lex reached out to touch it; to her surprise, it felt rather like a glass plate and responded to her touch.

She grabbed it and put it in her {Files} folder under the section labeled {Program Files}

"Ha! Gotcha." She murmured as she pulled out a larger plate with the Internet Explorer symbol.

Tentatively, she poked at it. To her surprise, it responded to her touch.

"Sweet" she laughed, turning it over. Sure enough, the back side had many lines of code on it.

So that was how she accessed the programming of the program itself.

Now, she experimented. She took the "window" and tried pulling on the sides. It expanded to fit her world view.

It was like she was inside Internet explorer itself.

She fished around in the {Internet Explorer Add-ons} subfolder, looking for Google.

"Babylon?" she called out in dismay, pulling out the only search engine she could find. "Eww."

She typed { .com} and tapped {Enter}.

Immediately, the screen shifted and she was in some sort of help center.

The sudden amount of people stunned her for a moment before she took in the rest of the details.

She was in a large, clean-looking white hall of some sort with the "Google" symbol on the back wall, with many booths with question-mark symbols stamped onto them.

She turned to the nearest free one.

Inside was some sort of a grey avatar with yet another question mark on it and the dropdown menu {Choose a language}

Lex touched it tentatively and chose {American English}

The image dissolved into a cheerful avatar of a Caucasian girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

{Hello.} she greeted. {My system does not recognize you! Are you a first-time user?}

The words appeared over her head in a speech bubble as she talked.

The options {yes} and {no} now hovered on the screen.

"...Yes?" Lex asked, wondering if it was voice activated.

{Welcome. I am Annie, your virtual assistant. I will guide you through creating an account. First of all, you must synchronize your date and time.}

Lex paused. Was she supposed to type 1998, or 2012, or what? If this was permanent, this was a serious question.

{This can be changed at any time.} Annie continued.

A cursor blinked over her animated head.

{Enter today's date: mm dd yyyy}

"Oh-three, twenty, nineteen-ninety eight." Lex said. She decided that contacting the Animorphs was her biggest priority. Quieter, so Annie wouldn't confuse it with a command. she added: "For now."

{Is it March 20, 1998?}

"...Yes."

Suddenly, the whole scene shifted in front of Lex. The room became much smaller, and almost abandoned.

"What...What just happened?"

Annie didn't respond. Brilliant. Voice control was gone.

She pulled the keyboard out of her {Toolbox}.

{What just happened?} she typed.

{In 1998, Google is not so popular and/or well developed as it will become.}

Annie had changed as well. Her form had become more pixilated and inanimate.

{What would you like me to guide you through next?}

Lex paused for a second. She had to contact the Animorphs.

{E-mail}

The scene around her shifted yet again. She was now in a large bunker filled with what seemed to be large, white birds on numerous perches of various sizes.

{I advise you to beware of low-flying emails.}

Low-flying...

While Lex was pondering on the meaning of these words, one of the birds suddenly got up and zipped across the room, catching Lex in the head as it went from perch to perch.

"Ow!"

Lex noticed that it wasn't a bird- it was a large, white winged envelope.

What next?

An arrow appeared over Annie's now immobile avatar, pointing to a nearby perch.

{This is your e-mail box. You can send and receive mails from there.

Do you need help finding an address?}

{Yes.}

{Name?}

Lex thought for a second. She knew she should contact Jake, but...

{Marco.}

{Last name?}

What? She didn't have the faintest idea.

{Unknown}

{Residence?}

{Santa Barbara, California.}

{There are seventeen users registered in that city under the name "Marco."}

{Can you trace them? I know where he lives. }

For a second, it seemed to Lex like there was a strange, un-preprogrammed-help-machine glint in Annie's eye. Lex blinked hard; when her eyes opened again, it was gone.

{I cannot. However, I can locate him if you give me his address.}

The text disappeared so quickly this time, it took Lex a minute to process all this.

She grabbed her keyboard and typed in the address.

{User found.}

A single name flashed on the screen.

Hah. There was no last name anyway.

An envelope slid out of the card slot, along with a very thin piece of the same plexiglas-like material all the other programs were made of.

Lex pulled out her keyboard and began to type:

{Hi, Marco, it's me. Lex...}

**I hope you liked it! I had a lot of fun doing that one.  
>There's one more coming up :)<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Here's part 2 of my mass update. THANKS AGAIN FOR READING! YOU'RE AWESOME!**

"Hey, bro, can I come in?"

Jake knocked on the door of Marco's room.

Marco hadn't shown up at their meetings for the past week, not to mention school- or outside the house at all, and Jake and the others had begun to get worried.

"No. Go away." he heard a muffled voice from behind the door

"Marco?" Rachel tried. For once, she wasn't making biting remarks about him.

Mostly because she was too worried to do anything else.

"I just wanted you to know, we found Lex's journal... And we thought you might like to see it."

The door swung open to reveal Marco, who looked like ha had been crying for days.

His eyes were red, and he looked like he practically hadn't gotten up from bed at all.

When his dad let them in, he admitted that Marco had told him a close friend had died, but that he was also beginning to worry.

Jake now saw why.

Without a word, Rachel handed him the notebook, her cheeks also streaked with dried tears.

Lex had been like a sister to her for this short week.

It was dark green, with a black panther on it with incredible green eyes.

Eyes like Lex's.

"Listen, Marco, you can't stay cooped up in here forever." Jake said.

"Yes I can. Who's going to stop me?" Marco challenged.

"Read the last entry." Rachel said gently, opening the journal at the end.

After her final, determined letter was through, Marco closed his eyes, his hands shaking.

Something fell out of the notebook. A piece of paper.

It read: "To Marco. I'll never forget you. I will find you. I promise."

His hand slowly clamped down on it, crumpling the small slip of paper.

"I will find you." He repeated. His eyes shone with a new fire.

"She's not dead. Not if she wrote something like this. She can't be.

She's out there somewhere. And I'm going to find her."

Rachel met Cassie's eyes. There was no way Lex could have known she wasn't going to die. In fact, there was only one way that this note could find its way into that journal...

...Ellimist?

The glint of understanding came o both girls' eyes at the same time. It was faint but possible. But there was no need to say anything to Marco. Not after he had finally gotten up and going.

Once the other Animorphs were gone, Marco pulled up the Internet browser on his computer.

If anyone could find anything, even a clue in the Net, it would be him.

The window with his mailbox popped up.

{One new message.}

He ignored it and was about to shut it off when the date caught his eye.

{March 20}

Something stopped him from simply deleting it.

It was from an unidentified user.

He tapped it, a pillow of growing excitement expanding in his chest as the computer processed it.

Finally, a user popped up:

lexsan

No. It wasn't possible.

Someone was pranking him.

It wasn't possible.

He began to read.

{Hey, Marco.

Your first thought right now is that this is a dream, isn't it? Or a prank?

Remember your answer?

"Do you think you could dream up somebody like me?"}

Marco's heart hammered. Only Lex had heard that. Only she had been there when he said it.

{I'm still not sure how it happened, but I'm not dead.

I'm not really alive, either.

I'm a computer virus, Marco. A living program.

I just want you to know that I'm always here. I can't contact you again.

Directly.

Be on the lookout. When something happens, I'll be there, in one way or another. You just have to look.

Never forget your digital ally :)

Lex}

Marco placed his head on his desk and cried, and cried. But they were tears of joy.

There were so many things he wanted to tell Lex. He didn't know how to say them to her, now that she was just a computer program.

Not just, he corrected himself.

Also. Because Lex was also Lex, the Animorph.

Lex, Rachel and Cassie's best friend.

Lex, who had dark red hair and incredible green eyes. Greener than you thought possible.

Who loved playing Tetris on her iPhone.

Lex, who they would never forget.

Never.

**THE END OF BOOK 1  
>I know it's s<strong>**ort of short. Sorry.  
>This is the end of the first book, but I'll make Book 2 in this same story. I hope you liked it and thanks for sticking with me!<br>This is the first story I've actually completed, minus oneshots.  
>Thank you to everyone who's been with me through the thick and thin.<br>Thank you, iris129, for being a loyal reader until the end.  
>Thank you, Elfera (formerly known as ILoveElfangor), for being a great friend, for cheering me up and for keeping me writing.<br>Thank you, StormGirl15 for being the best Beta I could ever ask for.  
>But most of all, thank YOU for reading!<br>Meagan Snow  
>1219/12**


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